Collection of spiders
during the 1960’s and their subsequent description, chiefly by the late Ray
Forster, reveals a rich and distinctive spider fauna in Tai Tokerau. During the
last decade we have undertaken surveys in various parts of Tai Tokerau by
pitfall trapping and collecting by hand. Comparing results of pitfall trapping
and hand collecting at Bream Head showed that the two methods sampled different
segments of the spider fauna. Not surprisingly, pitfall trapping tended to
catch ground-dwelling species, many with limited geographic ranges, while
hand-collecting took species that live above ground, and are widely distributed
throughout New Zealand (e.g. araneids and clubionids). Many of the genera of
ground-dwelling spiders are predominantly northern in distribution (northern
half of the North Island). These include Reinga (Amphinectidae), Artoria
(Lycosidae) and Pahoroides (Synotaxidae). Several genera, including Pahoroides, Paramamoea (Amphinectidae), Hapona
(Desidae), Uliodon (Zoropsidae) and Hypodrassodes (Gnaphosidae), are notably
speciose in Tai Tokerau. At Te Paki representatives of several genera of
Hahniidae were much more common than in pitfall collections in other parts of
the country. Comparisons in species composition between Bream Head and Te Paki
using pitfall traps reveal both similarities (e.g. habitat use by identical or
similar species) and differences (e.g. habitat use by Stanwellia spp., and rarity of mysmenids and hahniids at Bream Head)
in the two areas. Further study will help us understand more about the
fascinating spider diversity of Tai Tokerau.